Love Her or Leave Her
by HAFanForever
Summary: Dimitri thought he had found the perfect Anastasia impostor in Anya. But what he didn't count on was finding the real lost princess...nor did he count on falling in love with her in the process. Dimitri's reflections on all that has happened to him recently as he walks to the Dowager Empress's study.


**I have always loved the 1997 film _Anastasia_ , and it's always been one of my favorite animated films outside of those of Disney. Since I now have some more free time, I took the liberty to watch it a few times in the past week. And since I enjoyed it all over again, I decided to write my first story for it.**

 **This focuses on Dimitri as he reflects and thinks about what has gone on in his life since he met Anya while he walks to the Dowager Empress's study.**

 **I would like to dedicate this story for my dear friend and soul sister, DetectiveMinerva, who is also a fan of _Anastasia_ , another mutual interest among many that she and I share. Love you, girl! :D**

* * *

In the residence of the Dowager Empress Marie, Dimitri walked up the stairs. The Empress had sent for him, and he was now heading to her study in her home. Dimitri knew exactly why the Empress had sent for him…but he no longer wanted what she was going to offer him.

While walking the stairs, Dimitri thought about just how much his life had changed over the past week. But it was not just that a big, unexpected change occurred in his life: it was that this change, in such a short period of time, had turned him into a better person.

Dimitri had not only found the long-lost Romanov princess and Grand Duchess Anastasia in Anya, the 18-year-old orphan girl he had met only less than a week ago…but he had fallen in love with her, too.

* * *

Ten years ago, back in Tsarskoye Selo, Russia, Dimitri worked as a servant in the kitchen of the Catherine Palace, where the Romanov royal family lived…until the Russian Revolution occurred, leading to a siege on the palace and the execution of the entire family…or so everyone thought.

What no outsider knew was that, when the siege was beginning to occur, the youngest Romanov daughter, Anastasia, had ran back to her room to save her music box that her beloved grandmother, the Dowager Empress Marie, had recently given her. When Anastasia ran to her room, her grandmother followed her. When they reached the room, the revolutionist soldiers were coming closer faster, and it seemed as if the two royals were trapped and doomed to die…until one person unexpectedly came to their rescue.

Dimitri had secretly entered Anastasia's room through a hidden door in the wall. This door led to a secret passage and an eventual exit to the exterior of the palace. When he realized that the two had no other way to go, Dimitri guided them to the door so that they could escape without being detected. Anastasia tried to run back to get her music box, which she had dropped before going into the passage. But Dimitri heard the soldiers coming closer, and insisted that the princess escape while she still could.

Even though Dimitri had helped Anastasia and the Empress escape, he never knew what became of the former. He didn't know if she had successfully escaped and survived entirely. Although he believed she might have, given the fact that she had with her grandmother, and the Empress had managed to return to Paris. However, it was known that Anastasia had not made it to Paris with her grandmother.

In the years since the end of the Revolution, rumors circulated, and continued to flourish, in St. Petersburg, that, while Czar Nicholas and his family had perished, Anastasia had somehow managed to escape the siege and was still alive to this day. The only problem was, no one knew exactly where Anastasia was to confirm the rumors that she had indeed survived.

These rumors were the only hope for the Dowager Empress. She had last seen Anastasia when they tried to make a run for the final train going out of St. Petersburg. But the train was leaving quickly, and Anastasia didn't have enough time to climb aboard with her grandmother. Marie took her granddaughter's hand and tried to hold on…but the two lost their grip, and Anastasia fell onto the platform, hitting her head, and was lost in the crowd.

Though devastated that she never saw or heard from her granddaughter again after that night, Marie believed that Anastasia was still alive. For all those years, she had offered a reward of ten million rubles for the return of her beloved granddaughter. And in all those years, many young women showed up in Paris, claiming to be Anastasia. But they all turned out to be nothing more than look-alikes, frauds, and imposters, who were only after Marie's money.

Dimitri had grown up to be a con artist and worked with his long-time friend and partner Vladimir, or Vlad. They wanted to find Anastasia and reunite her with the Dowager Empress…though their "Anastasia" would only be another impostor, one who could convincingly pretend to be Anastasia, to whom they would teach what to say to convince the Empress of her identity. The two of them were doing this as a con job, one so that they would collect the reward money and become rich.

After unsuccessfully auditioning girls at a local theater to find one to be Anastasia, Dimitri remained optimistic that they would find the right girl. This was especially because he was carrying Anastasia's beloved music box, which he had found and kept after the siege. Because he remembered that the princess had dropped it during her escape, Dimitri was convinced that the Empress would fall for the con upon seeing the music box.

He and Vlad were staying in what was left of the Catherine Palace when they met an 18-year-old orphan named Anya, who had come there looking for Dimitri for help on getting travel papers. The pair were astonished when they noticed just how much Anya resembled Anastasia when she stood next to the portraits of the princess as a young child. Anya said she didn't remember her family or anything about her past before she was eight years old. But simultaneously, her only clue to having any family at all was in Paris, and that was because she owned a necklace that was inscribed with the words "Together in Paris."

Because the mystery surrounding her past and belief that she had family in Paris mirrored the mystery of what happened to Anastasia and that her only family left was in Paris, too, Dimitri managed to convince Anya that she might be Anastasia after all. Unbeknownst to her, though, it was all just part of his and Vlad's con to get the Empress's money.

* * *

During their journey to Paris, Anya and Dimitri did not get along at first, and when Vlad suggested to Dimitri that there was an attraction present between the two, the latter angrily denied it.

However, by the time the group had gotten on a boat to reach France, Dimitri was indeed beginning to fall for Anya. This appeared to have been when the two practiced doing the waltz together and almost kissed. But it was particularly after Dimitri saved Anya from jumping off the boat and drowning while she had been walking in her sleep. She had awakened with terror clearly on her face, saying something about "the Romanov curse," and that she "kept seeing so many faces."

Although he didn't understand what she was talking about, it was clear to Dimitri that Anya had a nightmare of some kind. She then clutched at his shirt and buried her face into his chest while she sobbed. While he was surprised at her actions at first, Dimitri wrapped his arms around Anya and held her close, then gently laid his head atop hers as he comforted her and said she was now safe.

Dimitri's feelings for Anya continued to blossom even after they reached Paris. During her interview with Sophie, Anya successfully answered every single question she had been taught by Vlad and Dimitri correctly. However, the final question was not one they had taught her, and that was how she had escaped the palace during the siege.

Initially afraid that Anya's failure to answer the question would reveal his and Vlad's ploy, Dimitri was shocked when she vaguely recollected that a young boy had opened a secret passage for her and the Empress to escape through.

Because Dimitri was the boy from this story, and because he was the only person who had witnessed the escape of the Empress and Anastasia, Dimitri realized that Anya, whom he believed was merely the perfect impostor in his scam, truly was the lost princess, Anastasia.

Although Dimitri was overjoyed about this discovery, it was not for the reason of wanting the money. Dimitri couldn't deny it any longer: he loved Anya. And because he loved her, he wanted what was best for her. He wanted her to be happy and be with her grandmother, her only family, once again.

At the same time, Dimitri was also sad. Although he loved Anya, he also knew that they couldn't be together because of their social classes. She was a princess, and he was just a penniless kitchen boy turned con artist.

As he said to Vlad before, "Princesses don't marry kitchen boys."

Dimitri had to continue telling himself these very words, no matter how they hurt him. It hurt him to give up Anya, but her happiness meant more to him than his own.

* * *

After they saw the Russian ballet of Cinderella, Dimitri went to Marie's private box at the theater, where he tried to introduce her to Anya. But Marie had recently, and finally, called off the search and refused to see anymore girls claiming to be her granddaughter. She also had previously heard about Dimitri's initial plan to trick her, and for that other reason, she denied his request for her to meet Anya.

Unfortunately, as they conversed, the door to the Empress's box was ajar, and Anya accidentally overheard everything about her being a pawn in Dimitri and Vlad's scheme.

When Dimitri was kicked out of the box, Anya angrily confronted Dimitri about him using her. Then she told him off, and went as far as slapping his face, while he tried to unsuccessfully convince her that she really was Anastasia. Although the slap genuinely hurt him, it hurt Dimitri even more when Anya kept walking away and refused to listen to him.

By now, Dimitri no longer cared about the ten million rubles; all he wanted was to reunite Anastasia with her grandmother.

Desperate to ensure that this happened, Dimitri decided to force the Empress to meet Anya by pretending to be her chauffeur and drive her back to the location where he and Anya were staying in Paris. Although he knew he risked being arrested, or a worse form of punishment, for kidnapping the Empress, Dimitri was desperate to reunite grandmother and granddaughter.

When he reached the residence, Marie stubbornly continued to refuse to listen to Dimitri. However, when he presented her with the music box, which he still believed could help convince her, she reluctantly agreed.

Then Dimitri took Marie into the house and led her to the room in which Anya was staying. Respecting the fact that Marie and Anya would want privacy, and also knowing that Anya would still be angry with him, he kept his distance from the room and headed towards the stairs.

But Dimitri still wanted to ensure that the two would actually reunite, so when he went outside, he listened to the two women through the open window on the second floor, but remained respectfully out of sight.

He couldn't make out everything they were saying, not that he wanted to, but he soon heard the two singing a song that may have been familiar to only them.

"Soon you'll be home with me. Once upon a December."

Then he heard Marie say it: "Oh, Anastasia! My Anastasia!" followed by what sounded like gasps and sobs of happiness between them.

His eye still on the window, Dimitri blew a kiss in its direction, unbeknownst towards the woman he loved. His mission finally complete, he turned away from the house and began walking down the street.

* * *

Dimitri finally reached the Dowager Empress Marie's study. The doors were open, and he took a moment to inhale, then exhale, before he entered the room. As he had expected, Marie was there waiting for him, standing next to her desk towards his left side. Dimitri stopped walking when he was a few feet away from the desk and bowed to the Empress. "You sent for me, Your Grace?"

Marie gestured towards the box on her desk, which contained the reward money. "Ten million rubles, as promised with my gratitude."

"I accept your gratitude, Your Highness," Dimitri replied politely. But sticking to his decision, he added, "But, uh, I don't want the money."

"What do you want, then?" Marie asked.

 _The only thing I want is something I know I cannot have_ , Dimitri thought to himself. Then he admitted his thoughts out loud, "Unfortunately, nothing you can give." He bowed respectfully one more time, then turned away and began to walk out of the room.

But Marie stopped him. "Young man, where did you get that music box?" When Dimitri didn't answer right away, Marie quickly realized the truth. She walked behind him and came to his left side as she spoke, while he simultaneously kept his back to her. "You were the boy, weren't you? The servant boy who got us out? You saved her life and mine, then you restored her to me. Yet, you want no reward."

"Not anymore."

"Why the change of mind?"

"It was more a change of heart," Dimitri answered simply. "I must go." And with that said, Dimitri bowed his head once more, then exited the room and walked down the stairs. Upon coming to the stairs leading to the floor level in the house, he briefly glimpsed to his right and noticed Anya, or rather, Anastasia, dressed in a very beautiful gown and a silver crown atop her head.

Though he had noticed her on the stairs as he made his way down, Dimitri refused to look at Anya, knowing that she was probably still angry at him for tricking her…even though he had been right about her being Anastasia all along.

When she noticed Dimitri coming down the stairs, Anastasia began to smile, but quickly stopped herself. She quickly realized the reason why he was here. "Hello, Dimitri," she said coldly.

Knowing he didn't dare to not answer her, Dimitri looked up and stopped. "Hello."

"Did you collect your reward?" she asked, still speaking with some coldness in her voice.

"My business is complete," Dimitri answered, holding his hands up. He started to descend the stairs again, but was stopped by an elderly servant.

"Young man. You will bow, and address the princess as 'Your Highness'," the servant instructed.

Anastasia blushed lightly. Gesturing a small wave of her right hand towards the servant, she started, "No, that's not necess-"

"Please, Your Highness," Dimitri interrupted her, holding up his left hand as he did, and bowed deeply. "I'm glad you found what you were looking for."

Anastasia lifted her chin, trying to look calm. "Yes, I'm glad you did, too."

"Well, then…goodbye. Your Highness." Dimitri bowed once more, then paused, and took one last look at the woman he loved. Then he hurried down the stairs and left, Anastasia watching him.

"Goodbye," she whispered.


End file.
